The Washington Post reports on shifts in college majors at the University of Maryland which are typical of the nation as a whole (my own son graduated with a CS major last weekend, the most popular major on campus):
Across the country, spring graduation season highlights the swiftly tilting academic landscape. Cap-and-gown roll calls for computer science and other technology-centered disciplines are becoming ever lengthier, and for the humanities, ever shorter.
The number of students nationwide seeking four-year degrees in computer and information sciences and related fields shot up 34 percent from 2017 to 2022, to about 573,000, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The English-major head count fell 23 percent in that time, to about 113,000. History fell 12 percent, to about 77,000.
These choices aren't economically irrational. In terms of economic value added, STEM degrees add more than non-STEM degrees, for the most part, and the direct value of being well read in classical English literature and developing a master of modern literary criticism is falling.
Journalism probably benefits more from general knowledge than journalism specific knowledge and was not so long ago a profession in which a college degree was not expected.
The benefits of a lot of the "softer" side of business course work and of classes about how to teach is also doubtful, even though there is knowledge worth sharing in both fields. Academic classroom instruction may not be the best format for imparting usable abilities in these fields.
For example, a bachelor's degree in marketing ads almost no economic value. Likewise, it makes little sense to require almost no classwork in teaching in higher education, while mandating more than a year of coursework in teaching for high school teachers.
No comments:
Post a Comment